The WCHA Men's Tournament was the conference tournament for the men's division of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), an NCAA Division I men's ice hockey conference that originally operated from 1951 to 2021. The tournament was also referred to as the WCHA Final Five, the moniker for the tournament's closing rounds. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. From 1985 to 2018, the winner of the tournament received the Broadmoor Trophy, before that trophy was retired in favor of the Jeff Sauer WCHA Championship Trophy.
History The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is the oldest active NCAA Division I ice hockey-only conference beginning in 1959–60, and based in Denver, Colorado. At the conclusion of each regular season, it held a tournament to determine its conference champion(s). The tournament has had many variations over the course of its history, starting with four teams and naming two regional champions. The modern format of the tournament, where only one champion was crowned, wasn't codified until 1981–82 after four teams left to join the CCHA and the NCAA began to offer automatic bids to the National Tournament rather than inviting finals participants.
Denver has won the most WCHA championships with 15. Murray Armstrong has won the most titles (10), all with Denver, and appeared in the second most title games. John MacInnes has appeared in the most title games (15) and won the second most, all with Michigan Tech. These numbers are, however, misleading as the WCHA had named two tournament champions for most of its first 22 years rather than offering a game(s) to decide a single champion, the era that both Armstrong and MacInnes coached in. Had this policy continued unabated Doug Woog would be tied with Armstrong for most titles as well as winning 5 consecutive (1990–1994) and appearing in 12 consecutive finals (1986–1997).
Following the 2012–13 season, college hockey underwent a major conference realignment, leaving the WCHA with an almost completely new set of teams. In 2019, seven members of the men's WCHA announced they would be leaving the WCHA to form a new, revived CCHA conference. The 2020–21 season would be the last for the current iteration of the WCHA, with Lake Superior State winning the final WCHA men's tournament.
Championship Round Performance
Game records may not add up to the amount of championship round appearances due to the championship round being multiple games in certain years.
School Championships Appearances Record Pct. Denver 15 23 22–8–2 Minnesota 14 27 17–21–4 Wisconsin 12 14 17–2–3 North Dakota 11 24 15–15–3 Michigan Tech 11 19 15–11–2 Northern Michigan 3 6 3–3–0 Minnesota–Duluth 3 5 4–5–0 Minnesota State 3 4 3–1 Michigan State 2 6 3–6–1 Colorado College 1 9 2–11 St. Cloud State 1 4 1–3 Ferris State 1 2 1–1 Lake Superior State 1 1 1–0 Michigan 0 8 0–12–2 Bowling Green State 0 2 0–2 Notre Dame 0 2 0–3–1
Location of WCHA Tournaments 1961–1987: Campus Sites 1988–1993, 1995, 1997: St. Paul Civic Center, St. Paul, MN 1994, 1996, 1998: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI 1999–2000: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN 2001–2013, 2015: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN 2014, 2016: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI"WCHA Announces Playoff Championship to be Played in Grand Rapids in 2014 & 2016, Saint Paul in 2015 & 2017," press release from WCHA.com, 3/23/2013 2017–2020: Campus Sites 2021: Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, Mankato, MN
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